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Counted, not estimated

Impact, counted

Each figure below says what was counted, how, over what period, and where the number comes from. Outputs (books issued) and outcomes (children reading) are kept apart.

Village libraries

Figure	What was counted	How	Period	Source
43	village libraries running (two closed for the flood, reopening in January)	Counted	November 2026	Our list of libraries, on the Libraries page
9,817	readers with a card who borrowed at least onceEach person counted once.	Counted	2025-26	Membership registers, checked by our field team
1,92,300	books issuedA book borrowed twice counts twice.	Counted	2025-26	Issue registers of all libraries
54%	of readers with a card are women and girls	Counted	2025-26	Membership registers

The boat library

Figure	What was counted	How	Period	Source
5	chars visited every week	Counted	2025-26	The boat's log
46	Thursday runs made, of 52Six were cancelled for high water.	Counted	2025-26	The boat's log
14,820	books issued from the boat	Counted	2025-26	The boat's issue register

Books in our languages

Figure	What was counted	How	Period	Source
64	picture books published, all under CC BY 4.0	Counted	2014 to 2026	Our publications list
19,200	copies printed	Counted	2025-26	Printers' invoices in the audited accounts
₹180	to print one copy, writing and illustration included	Money	2025-26	Books spending ÷ copies printed

Reading camps in the flood season

Figure	What was counted	How	Period	Source
1,140	children who took both the first and the last reading test	Counted	July to August 2026	Camp registers
61%	of them could read a Class 2 paragraph at the end, up from 38% at the startNot an independent evaluation; some of the change would have happened anyway.	Measured	July to August 2026	Our own reading test, given by our librarians

Training librarians

Figure	What was counted	How	Period	Source
43	village librarians, all from the village they serve	Counted	November 2026	Staff list
38	of them have finished the year's training	Counted	November 2026	Training records
₹4,500	honorarium a month for about 20 hours a week	Money	Since April 2025	Pay records in the audited accounts

What we don't count, and why

Lives touched. We don't add up everyone who ever came through a door: we count people with a card, once.
Footfall. Libraries keep a visitors' register, but a child who comes every day is one reader, not 300 visits.
Exam results. We can't say a library caused them, so we don't claim them.
People reached by the boat's loudspeaker announcements, or by radio.
Anything from the 2026 floods' relief work, which other organisations led; we lent the boat.